17 
it is used. The object of this sticky band is to prevent the ascent of 
the tree by young caterpillars batching from egg masses at or near the 
surface of the ground. Extensive experiments and considerable prac- 
tical work have been conducted with bands of this character in the 
course of the fight, but their use at present is not great, the officials 
concentrating their efforts in the main upon other mean-. 
These sticky bands, however, are still used in one rather important 
connection. In forest work, where the eggs npon the trees have 
already been treated with creosote in the fall, the undergrowth cleared 
away, and the dead limbs burned, the colony is abandoned for the 
winter. Just before the time of the hatching of the caterpillars in the 
spring the sticky bands are placed around the trees and thus prevent 
the comparatively few caterpillars which may hatch from egg masses 
laid in hidden and undiscovered places at the surface of the ground, 
such as deep crevices between rocks, from ascending the trees. Thus. 
when all of the eggs have hatched, the remaining caterpillars can easily 
be destroyed by burning the ground over with a very ingenious and 
destructive apparatus, which has been invented in the course of the 
work, and which is known as the "cyclone burner." 
The second band is used to entrap caterpillars which have already 
made their appearance in a given tree or the presence of which is sus- 
pected. After much experiment, the committee has adopted a simple strip 
of common burlap, which is tied about the tree with a single string at its 
middle, at about the height of a man's shoulders. The burlap is pur- 
chased in bales and cut into strips 12 inches wide. These strips are made 
into rolls, which the workmen carry suspended from the shoulder. 
Approaching the tree, the roll is passed around the trunk and enough 
cut off to encircle the tree and lap sufficiently at the ends to allow for 
shrinkage. A bit of twine is tied around both tree and cloth at the 
middle of the latter. The upper half of the burlap is then turned down 
over the twine, thus making a double band about the tree. The object 
of this banding is to assemble the caterpillars which may be upon the 
trees, since it has been found, as stated in an earlier sentence, that the 
larva* feed at night and descend the trunk in search of hiding p! 
during the day. Where the trunk and branches offer no better hiding 
places, most of the caterpillars will crawl down morning after morning 
and seek the shelter of the burlap. The men in making their rounds 
raise the burlap and cut or crush the caterpillars collected beneath it. 
Many little details connected with the systematic examination (^' the 
burlap can not be touched upon, but it will suffice to say that tin' force 
at the disposal of the committee is so organized and the system of 
examination is so arranged that this method becomes a very effective 
and by no means so expensive a measure as might be supposed for 
destroying the caterpillars. Down to L897 it was found that sooner or 
later practically all, in fact. 1 may almost say positively all, oi' t he cater- 
pillars in a given tree seek shelter under the burlap band except dur- 
S!»;,7_Xo. 11 ^ 
